My Time to Shine (Dance Moms/Harry Potter Crossover - Part 1)

Chapter 8: We Don't Need Her

The week before the competition seemed to speed by. Kenzie could barely focus on her classes. Instead of turning Ollie into a teacup she both accidentally and successfully turned Nibbles into an alarm clock. It was fine when McGonagall turned him back into a dog but that didn't stop his alarm from going off every hour. She felt terribly sorry for her distracted mistake. She also handed in an essay for potions on a topic that was never even assigned, although it worked in her favour as she got extra marks. The most frustrating part about this week was the dirty looks Maddie gave her in the halls and at meals. She must feel really good about herself as she was the lead in the group and also had a solo, while Kenzie was looking at not even being in the dance.

At the end of the week, Miss Abby decided Kenzie could be in the group but that was only because they needed an odd number to showcase Maddie. When they performed at the competition on Saturday, she felt it went way better than any of the rehearsals but she made that mistake on the timing of the aerial again. She just hoped and prayed that Abby hadn't noticed.

In the next pyramid, however, it was made clear that Abby had noticed. "Mackenzie, I told you to get it together and what did you do?! You ruined the group piece for everyone. You will not be in the group this week and you will not have a solo either." At this Kenzie began to cry although she tried not to because she knew what would happen. "How old are you?!"

"Eleven," Kenzie said through tears. She had sniffled as she said it and wished desperately that she had not.

"Save your tears for your pillow!" Abby boomed at her. She knew this was coming but there was very little she could do to stop herself at this point.

Abby continued with pyramid. Maddie had beat Kendall which Abby was pleased with although it meant Kendall got a good yelling at as well. Typical.

"Next weekend we will be performing a group piece entitled We Don't Need Her. Mackenzie, you will not be performing in the group piece. Maddie, you will be doing a tap solo to no music, it will solely be the sounds you make with your feet. It will be entitled Tap Tap Revenge. Jojo and Nia, you will be performing a musical theatre duet called Two Peas in a Pod.

Everyone set off to work and Kenzie sat on the grass outside the studio soaking in the last rays of sunshine of the year and completing the potions essay that was actually assigned this time. She may as well be working towards something she could excel at. That didn't seem to be dancing at the moment, a fact which made her very sad.

Melissa came out to talk to her, telling her Abby wanted her inside working on the group, despite the fact that she wasn't in it. She felt Kenzie should learn all of the spots and be an understudy and that maybe this would help her get it together.

Kenzie tried to show Melissa the essay she had just gotten back. "Look, mom, I got an Outstanding!"

"That isn't what is important right now, Mackenzie. Get your butt back into the studio and work!" She did as she was told. She felt glazed over.

When she got back to the Hufflepuff common room on Sunday night after a long day of doing what felt like nothing, she found Scorpius was still up. He was the only one left in the common room and looked quite sleepy.

"Hey. What are you still doing up?" She looked at him and wondered why he hadn't gone to bed already. She slumped down into a chair beside him at the table.

"Well, I hadn't seen you in a while, you see. Wanted to make sure you were doing all right, you don't seem like you are really." He seemed confident as he spoke but looked as though he was unsure if he had said the right thing once he had finished.

Mackenzie felt her heart become warmer. Someone did care about her. Scorpius had stayed up later than usual just to check on her. She did have great people in her life. She ended up telling him the whole story. She felt like her words were a volcano erupting, that surely he couldn't care about everything she had to say. But he listened for half an hour and then comforted her by handing her a chocolate frog and giving her words of wisdom. 

"Maybe you shouldn't go to the competition. Stay here. Maybe the five of us can go flying or play chess or something. We could ask Steepy to whip us up something really tasty for the weekend. We could even see if Louis will let us check out the tube slide he's been building on the grounds with Hagrid." he said. "Don't think about the things they say for one minute, hear me? You're one of the smartest witches in our year and the only one who can do every spell and brew every potion we have learned and then some. Even Rosie can't do that and her mom is Hermione Granger! So be proud of yourself because you have a lot to be proud of."

Mackenzie went to bed feeling much happier and smiling to herself as she thought she had better spend more time around Scorpius.